Highlights

Law and order was never as bad in Uttar Pradesh, ex-chief minister said

Within a month, two UP policemen have been killed in mob violence

The killing of a second policeman in Uttar Pradesh within a month has provided fuel to the state opposition for attacks on chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Eleven persons have been arrested in the murder case of constable Suresh Vats, eight others for rioting and destruction of public property. Suresh Vats, who was on duty for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Ghazipur, was on his way back when he was attacked by a mob of protesters.

Akhilesh Yadav - Samajwadi Party leader and Yogi Adityanath's predecessor -- hit out at the government today, saying law and order was never as bad as it is under the BJP government.

It was the Chief Minister, he further said, who was indirectly behind the attack on the constable. "The incident has happened because of what the Chief Minister keeps on saying -- 'thok do' (shoot them)," he said, referring to the growing number of encounters in the state.

On December 3, inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was shot dead in Bulandshahr after a mob went berserk when carcasses of several cows were found in the outskirts of a village. The attackers had used stones, sticks to hit him and chopped off his fingers with an axe before shooting him.

After allegations of mismanagement in the investigation into the murder, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the incident was a "political conspiracy" and those maligning him should "applaud and thank the government."

"The BJP is responsible for providing sanction to all kinds of violence and chaos. Mob violence is due to BJP's policies," Mayawati, Mr Yadav's ally in the state, said after the murder of Subodh Kumar Singh.

The Congress has demanded a judicial investigation into the constable's murder. "In Adityanath's jungle raj, neither the public is safe, nor the police. Democracy in BJP is mobocracy," tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.